


Magpie

by Liadt



Category: Callan (TV), Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Crossover, Gen, pre-episode: Blackmailers should be discouraged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 13:56:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/868314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liadt/pseuds/Liadt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Silver liked picking up shiny things. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magpie

**Author's Note:**

> Set pre the _Callan_ episode 'Blackmailers Should be Discouraged' (1969). No knowledge of _Callan_ is required to read this fic. _Callan_ fans who don't know _S &S_ you're on your own, as usual;)
> 
> Beta-ed by the lovely lost_spook.

The silver cake basket had been locked in a glass cabinet, on display to all, yet unable to be touched. Time waited in an unnatural crack in base of the long oval shaped basket. The simmering resentment of a wrongly accused maid had originally been caught there. Nobody would believe her; it was a grand lady’s word against hers. Time’s plan was disrupted, there was a second robbery,the real perpetrator was caught and the cake basket was safely locked away. When it was taken out, for special occasions, it was polished by a succession of maids rubbing their resentment of their situation into the metal. Finally, it was moved from the stately home to the glass cabinet as an exhibit of exquisite Georgian silverware in a museum. Then a thief came along. He’d taken the silver basket because it appealed to his eye with it’s clean lines and delicate reeded piercing and foliate motifs around the rim.

The silver basket was no longer separate from the world. It nestled in amongst a jumble of silverware and crockery from different eras. It fed off all the little emotions carried by the other items and built up it’s strength. What gave the entity most power was the echoes of past slights contained in the dilapidated building after decades of occupation by the flotsam and jetsam of society. The traces of old injustices matched the first emotion which created the time break. The oval basket was lucky the thief had taken it home. The thief resented the jobs a stronger man made him do. If he could have articulated the problems for a small man in a big man’s world, he doubted the stronger would have listened, he already knew how scared he was of everything. Time wanted more of these emotions. 

It used its growing power to affect the behaviour of its liberator. Ordinarily, the thief would have taken the silver to a fence as soon as he could. He didn’t like selling the prettier pieces he picked up but he had a living to make. With the basket ensconced in his flat the thief stayed in, only going out to pick up essentials and a parcel for the stronger man. The thief could hide the silverware from those who would try to stop time breaking out but his protection wasn‘t enough. The entity wanted the stronger man to come back and stay. It wanted defending, too, and it sensed the man made the thief feel safe, as well as scaring him. The entity allowed the thief to leave to get the requested parcel. Next time the man might stay long enough to become useful. He was resentful, too, but in a different way. He was like a powder keg, and complicated. He excited time. If it could get him to lose control, it would be the trigger for the time to break out and take what it wanted from the present.

******

Silver stepped out into a dark room. The basket was happy here. Silver could sense it. Where, though? He waited getting used to the darkness. This was a human’s flat, he had been told. As a technician, he didn’t retrieve items - he came in when operators needed specialist help. Usually he worked with a pair of operators, Sapphire and Steel, this time Steel was unavailable and, as the job was deemed low risk, Silver had been seconded. Ordinarily, Silver would have been affronted, but it offered a chance to be with Sapphire without Steel’s disapproving looks, - although that was often half the pleasure in flirting. Where was Sapphire? Making an entrance without an audience was no fun. 

Silver moved around to get his bearings and upset a pile of things. Quickly, he steadied it with his hands. One hand plunged in to a basket of watches. 

“I don’t think you belong here.” Silver pulled the silver Rolex watch out of a nest of base metal fakes and smiled at it. “It’s a shame I can’t take you with me.” He ran his hands over the pile of boxes and baskets searching for something he could use. His fingers passed over a collection of spherical objects. “Ah, I remember these.” Silver lifted a rock crystal doorknob, and used his skills to turn it in to a source of light. That was better.

Silver looked around where he was. Flat was a generous description. It was more like a tip with a roof. Why hadn’t operators been sent in here before? This wasn’t Silver’s idea of an assignment - he liked pretty things in elegant surroundings. He hoped the job would be as quick as promised. Although… Silver ducked under the rafters to examine the kitchenette and paused to admire a piece of white Dresden china with floral decoration and gilding. “Not my usual type of thing but very nice. Ah, more silver - is someone having a joke at my expense?” Silver had spotted a clutch of silver teaspoons meant for display. I could have played a tune on them if they were clean, thought Silver, disapproving of the tannin stains.

Steel would not have liked the chaotic collection of old and new, mass produced and handcrafted objects. And of so many different things! thought Silver. The traces of old emotions made the collection dangerous. Destroying the whole lot, including the decrepit building would be best, as Steel would say. The building didn’t have long until it collapsed anyway. But human things were so fascinating. 

Silver’s attention was attracted by a large object in the corner. As he came closer he could see it was an antique four poster bed. Silver frowned. He’d encountered this bed before. He hoped the bed’s presence here didn’t mean one particular owner in the past had come to any harm. Elements weren’t supposed feel anything towards humans but she had been as enchanting as she was sad.

“How did you end up here?” Silver asked the bed, patting the post.

“If you hurt me, Mr Callan will go after you. He’s tough,” squeaked a fearful voice.

Silver’s head jerked up. He had been too distracted by his thoughts to notice the figure crouched behind the bed. He could smell him now, though, and he took a step back. The occupant was a small, unshaven, and presumably unwashed man who’d been sleeping in his clothes before Silver had woken him. Silver hadn’t heard him stir. Lonely wouldn’t have been half as good a thief if he had. Peering at Lonely, Silver thought he’d seen a similar carving, in a cathedral. He was told they came from stonemason’s imaginations, they should’ve kept the flat cap.

“Mr Callan?” repeated Silver, trying to copy the human’s pronunciation. 

Wincing at Silver’s cockney accent, Lonely’s fear went down a notch. He’d assumed Kennedy, a gangster, had found out he‘d done his drum, and Silver was his messenger with menaces. The robbery was an accident, but that wouldn’t bring any mercy from Kennedy.

The red haired man in front of him was dressed in the kind of flash suit preferred by the more successful gangsters. Futhermore, Silver was too pretty to be one of Kennedy’s gang, and his heavies were locals. If he doesn’t know Mr Callan, a copper fresh from college? thought Lonely.

“Busies can’t come in here without a warrant,” said Lonely drawing himself up indignantly, as the hidden entity compelled Lonely to protect it in his own small way.

“How about pre-occupied?” said Silver with a friendly smile. “You don’t happen to have a silver basket? It’s important.”

“It’s all mine, you’ve no right.”

“Vitally important.”

“I’ve got receipts. Legit, it is.”

“You’re in danger.”

Silver, trying to contain his irritation, picked up a piece of the Dresden set. “I only want a basket in silver but with a handle something like this.” Silver held his light over the porcelain allowing Lonely to see it better.

“Put it down! I like it, it’s pretty,” said Lonely a note of hysteria creeping into his voice, believing Silver was about to smash the piece up. He had experienced police searches before.

Honestly! He’s as annoying as Steel, constantly warning against touching things, thought Silver. He replaced the Dresden carefully. “I don’t want to break it. As soon as I get the basket, I’ll go.”

“Mr Callan’ll be here in a minute. He won’t like it.”

Silver sighed inwardly and hoped Mr Callan would turn up soon. The man was refusing to listen while Silver threatened his hoard. When a human was more co-operative assignments progressed more smoothly.

There was a knock at the door. “Lonely, it’s me Callan. Open up, it’s freezing out here.”

Lonely looked at Silver, waiting to see the element‘s reaction.

“Come on, Lonely, don’t bother dolling yourself up. I’ve seen what you look like in the morning,” said Callan, as he waited impatiently for the door to be opened.

“Please do let him in,” said Silver wearily and gestured for Lonely to open the door. Silver wanted to keep Lonely in sight in case he tried to escape out through the skylight with the silver basket. Elements didn’t do rooftop chases.

Lonely gave him a triumphant look, as if to say, ‘you’re for it now’. He scrambled over the candlewick, not wanting to get close to Silver, and opened the door. A man came in through the door, wearing a long coat and a short scarf. He didn’t look as “tough” as described, but then neither did Steel, and he could tie lift cables in knots. The man had a touch of arrogance he carried along with his military bearing and a bottle of scotch.

“What’s going on here?” asked Callan, switching on the lights as Lonely ducked behind him. “You’re not threatening Lonely are you? I won’t have it,” he added proprietarily on seeing Silver.

Hmm, is this Lonely his pet? Lonely wasn’t the same as other humans Silver had encountered. 

“He’s trying to rob me, Mr Callan.”

“Is he?” said Callan amused. What Lonely hadn’t thieved, he’d bought off some feller from a pub, no questions asked. 

“He’s not one of yours, is he?”

“I don’t think so, mate.” Callan wasn’t currently involved in any work for the section, a branch of British Intelligence. Lonely thought Callan was a gangster. 

Silver felt mildly disconcerted by the way the pair were scrutinising him under the lights. People didn’t look at him like that. Surprise and confusion at a stranger appearing in their residences was more usual, together with the occasional appreciative glance. 

Callan and Lonely were trying to work out if Silver had any weapons concealed about his person. It wasn’t the first time they’d found unwelcome visitors waiting for them.

Silver hadn’t encountered this part of human society before. He wished a strong element like Lead had come with him and thrown the slight man in a cupboard and kept the hard man outside while he searched. Being reasonable didn’t appear to work here. That wasn’t the way he operated, however, so he thought he would try to reason with the humans one last time. 

Silver put on his most winning smile. “Mr Callan, I was merely asking your pet here if he had a particular silver cake basket about two hundred years old? It’s very important to me.”

“Are you insurance?”

Silver nodded. He didn’t know what ‘insurance’ was, but it appeared to be the best course to follow.

“Lonely, mate, if all he wants is to get a weeping great aunt’s family heirloom back, I think you should let it go.”

“Mr Callan! And he mocked my accent,” protested Lonely, trying to find a reason not to uncover the basket.

“It makes a change from everything else. Be a good boy and get the basket. It’s not as if you’re short of the stuff.” Callan eyed Lonely’s possessions. He didn’t like clutter and mess. The place could do with a clear out.

Lonely didn’t move, not knowing whether to obey Callan or the entity.

“Go on, then, do as you’re told. I‘ll make sure he doesn‘t do anything, not even give you a bath,” said Callan, not unkindly, mistaking the reason for Lonely’s hesitation.

Lonely moved off and started rooting around in boxes near the kitchenette pulling out an assortment of crockery and silverware. The hidden silver basket started to hum angrily with energy, but it couldn’t break the ingrained mix of fear and loyalty Lonely had for Callan to stop the search.

While they waited for Lonely to unearth the item, Callan saw the doorknob in Silver’s hand. “What’s with that? I thought it was a torch?”

“It‘s useful. I can work wonders with pretty things,” said Silver, beaming at Callan. Silver exchanged the door handle for the silver Rolex. 

“Look.” Silver held up the watch, and turned it into a fine metallic mesh. Silver smiled again, waiting for a gasp of astonishment from the human at his cleverness.

“OK, Houdini, I get the point. I’m not interested.” Perhaps the odd man was an East German spy. A mole could have got his wires crossed - Callan’s passion was for war games not magic. He felt sorry for the stranger if he had been sent to befriend one of the section - he seemed too nice to get involved in this line of work. Weren’t we all once, he thought tiredly.

“Here’s all the baskets I‘ve got, Mis-ter,” said Lonely, with a grimace, shoving a stack of mixed silverware and crockery at Silver. Having anyone handle his stuff hurt Lonely, it wasn’t a real hurt but one placed in his head by the malevolent entity. 

“Ah, thank you,” said Silver, cradling the items in his arms. Lonely had chosen them in an attempt to confuse Silver into selecting the wrong object.

_Sapphire are you here yet?_

_Silver?_

_I’ve got some baskets - do you want to come up and see me?_

_What about the baskets?_

_Oh, I’ll let you see them too._

A striking, fair haired women in a blue dress and matching coat appeared from out of nowhere in front of Silver. She was dazzling enough for Lonely to ignore her unnatural entrance and mutter, “Cor.”

“I’ve got to be tripping, Lonely. A stunner in your gaff. Makes him and his hair look commonplace,” said Callan.

 _Who are your friends?_ Sapphire said telepathically

_The one in the short scarf is Steel’s missing twin, and the other is the model for the Lincoln Imp_

Sapphire glanced over, and gave Lonely her best smile. Lonely squeezed Callan’s arm in pleasure. 

“All right, mate, you might hurt me,” responded Callan, enjoying the view of Sapphire‘s legs, exposed beneath her short shift dress. Callan was convinced he’d been drugged, but the sense of acceptance Sapphire had given him had over ridden his natural reaction to fight the feelings.

_It’s a pity they didn’t include the cap. It’s rather sweet._

_Sweet! You should have been here earlier. I’m beginning to wonder if Time has taken you over._

_It’s all about the pretties with you, Silver._

_I do my best work with pretty things. Why do you think I make sure I work with you and Steel?_

_Hush. If I can’t concentrate we’ll be stuck in this charming attic forever._ Sapphire was inspecting the baskets to find the one that contained the time break. 

_The attic and it’s contents, I don’t mind. It’s the thought of it’s guardian chattering ‘Mr Callan won’t like it, don’t touch my stuff,’ at me everytime I touch something for eternity. And it’s not very clean, either._

_It’s not his fault, it’s Time’s influence, as you well know._

Sapphire had finished sorting through stack and found the time wracked basket.

“Hold this, Silver.”

“Very nice.”

Sapphire and Silver held the silver basket between them. Sapphire’s eyes glowed blue briefly, and there was a flash across the basket. 

“And very rare.”

“It’ll be rarer still after we’ve completed our work.”

“The piercing was all done by hand. Few would have owned a basket like this. Later the holes were punched out by machines, much safer.” Sapphire informed him, as she searched for the significant point in the basket’s history. “Hmm, a wronged human caused the crack. Resentment is here, but it’s not enough to pose a problem to us yet.”

“Can you tell what it wants Sapphire?”

_Someone like the man in the scarf._ Sapphire switched over to talking mind to mind with Silver to prevent the humans hearing their conversation. 

_Should we give him to Time?_ Sometimes a time break could be healed by sacrificing a human, it was a last resort to prevent worse consequences. 

_No. He‘s an intense character. Too intense. If he loses control of his emotions in here…it’ll be the opportunity this entity has been waiting for all these years. He’s the trigger._

_Trouble?_

_I’ll go back and find out._ Sapphire’s eyes flashed blue again. Recent images of activity in the flat passed in front of her eyes. _The man doesn’t live here. He’s visited long enough for the entity to realise his potential. Fortunately, he’s in a good mood._

_Your charming influence, no doubt._

_No, he’s on a break from his work. His work troubles him._

Sapphire lifted her gaze from the basket. “Sealing the crack and transforming the basket should be enough. Do you think you can resolve this by yourself, Silver?”

“You have to ask?”

Sapphire released her hold on the basket, while in Silver’s hands it was transformed in to a shimmering vapour that quickly dispersed into the air.

“Bravo,” said Callan, appreciatively watching the display, his reaction to Silver’s tricks changed by Sapphire’s presence. 

Silver performed a complicated bow in reply, and said to Sapphire, “Shall we depart?” 

Sapphire curtseyed and accepted the hand Silver offered to her. “We may.”

They left.

Lonely, eyes wide, looked at the empty space left by the elements’ exit. “It’s not drugs, them’s ghosts, Mr Callan. The vapour’s ectoplasm. I have an aunt who’s a medium.”

“You have an aunt for every occasion,” said Callan cutting in. “Get some glasses - I think we need a drink.”

**Author's Note:**

> 'Magpie' refers to the old rhyme that goes: "One for sorrow, two for joy..."
> 
> Georgian silver cake baskets come in a variety of styles and are rather lovely. The one used as a reference for this story was made by William Plummer in 1787.
> 
> Lonely's flat is taken from the books, because I prefer it.
> 
> The lady with the four poster refers to the OFC in lost_spook's 'Intersection'. Except I had misremembered it! Still worth reading.
> 
> The Lincoln imp can be found sitting atop a stone column in the Angel Choir in Lincoln Cathedral. There is a large room in the cathedral which has a very bad atmosphere.


End file.
